Local Museum For Rent
Posted by Joann Deutch on May 8, 2012 - 11:21:41 AM

LAUREL CANYON—There’s lots of brouhaha going on about the IPO for Facebook. The investment newspapers are reporting about it as if this will be a new high watermark in the annals of iGen - that’s the new tech savvy generation. Paparazzi are actually stalking Mark Zuckerberg on Wall Street as he interviews potential underwriters. Hollywood has already made a movie, surely there is a sequel in this somewhere. One of your neighbors could be toiling away on the script right now.

But what does this all mean to us 3,000 miles away? It seems that local groups are using them to reach out to others. And here I thought Facebook was just a toy to keep up with your Friends and Family, to post your party pictures and brag, but are to lazy to actually call and chat with your friends, maybe you still talk to your family. The Laurel Canyon Association launched a Facebook page: www.facebook.com/thelaurelcanyon.

This is where I learned that the amazing Fitzpatrick-Leland House on the crest of Laurel Canyon and Woodrow Wilson could be rented. Just a few days ago I was lucky enough to be walking by (8078 Woodrow Wilson Drive) when the gate was open. The house was built by Ruldoph Schinder, known as one of the Architects Under the Sun, in 1936 and now belongs to the MAK Center. It was built for Colton Fitzpatrick who was a real estate developer. He commissioned the house to encourage development, specifically the building of affordable homes in the hills. Much as I searched for more information on Mr. Fitzpatrick, I ran into a brick wall. I did manage to learn that he moved out of the house claiming he was tire of being the “Fitzpatrick who lived in the Schindler House.” The house was a demonstration of Schindler’s revolutionary use of slab foundations, and use of inexpensive building materials. The house was a radical change from the ornate Craftsman style house which ruled the marketplace at the time.

In a 1934 letter published in the LA Times, Schindler fought back against critics who felt that the unadorned functional architectural movement was based upon a misconception. He wrote that while “”¦the “functional” term [came] out of the engineer’s dictionary. It means something quiet different to an artist. Brancusi’s “Bird” is “functional”; not because it flies”¦but because every one of its lines magnificently serves its function: to suggest the bird.”

Russ Leland, an architectural designer, bought the property in 1990 and restored it. Clearly he knows his business, and gifting it to the MAK is a gift to the cultural history of Los Angles.

I was surprised that both Facebook and Airbnb have a few other local listing. www.airbnb.com/ has this property listed, along with a great portfolio of pictures of the interior. I thought I’d offer a picture of what you can expect to see when you drive by on Woodrow Wilson, so that we all know where the house it.

I never thought about using Facebook as a source of information, let alone as a resource for short stay housing. Getting to stay in a Schindler House would be a treat indeed.